One Year To Train...What to do?

[Ashton]

Hello All,

I hope I'm posting this question in the correct forum. If not, I'm sure one of the Mods will move it where it may be more appropriate. I'm brand new to this forum having been told about it by a friend of mine who lurks here every once in a while.

I would appreciate any input or advice the other members might have for me on a matter that has grown to be very important to me. My situation is this: The company I work at will be relocating me to central America within a year and a half as a result of international expansion & a promotion for me. While the area I'll be living in is relatively safe, where I'll be working, from all accounts, is a crime/war zone. So I have a year and a half to train to prepare for the possibility of street encounters. I've scouted out thae area in which I live (Dallas, Tx) & I've come up with 4 possibilities that appear to be the best options:

(A) WingTsun: www.dallaswingtsun.com A breakaway group from the Leung Ting gang. The main instructor there is a fan of Peyton Quinn, Bob Orlando, Scott Sonnon, Marc Mac Young etc. It appears he tries to make the Wing Tsun training more realistic by adding scenario training, surprise attacks, surprise weapons etc. He has gone through RMCAT training. I really like the reliance on body structure & biomechanics me not being a big guy (5'8). My only real reservations are that there might not be too great foot work in the system & I'm not 100% sure how street effective the system is.

(B) Kenpo/Filipino Kuntaw/Arnis: www.planoselfdefense.com There instructor here is also a sticlker for biomechanics & teaches his students how to mess with an attacker's body structure/body mechanics etc. He teaches something he calls "Reflexogenics"--similar to what I believe Tim Larkin teaches as far as taking advantage of your opponent's reflex actions in a fight. He uses the Tracy Kenpo he teaches as a base to layer the Kuntaw on top of. The Arnis is his weapons system. He was taught by Al Tracy & his Filipino teacher is Raffy Pambuan--apparently a very well-regarded figure in FMA. I also like this system, but I am a litle wary of the Kenpo as it feels to me like a return to the the old Tae Kwon Do days that I'm trying to erase from my muscle memory. The class also trains barefoot wearing traditional uniforms, which in my opinion, seems to detract from the realism of the training. One other good point though, is that he does hire people from a RMCAT-lie organization to come in & do "adrenaline" type training.

(C) Kenpo/Indonesian Kuntao/Silat/Boxing: This is coming from a gentleman that I found through Marc Mac Young's list that happens to be in my area. Similar to the above, he uses Parker Kenpo as a base & injects it with principles from Kuntao, Silat & Western Boxing. It appears to be a formidable system, but he seems to be a little squeamish about teaching some really hardcore "break somebody's elbow here" type of material. Thsi would be private training oncea week rather than group training. He has done work as a bouncer & a body guard. His Kuntao comes from limited training with Bob Orlando & his Silat from a couple of different sources. Boxing was his first "martial art."

(D) American Combatives: www.americancombatives.com As the instructor describes it, the system is basically WWII Combatives with some groundfighting thrown in as he teaches it. No frills; just gouge the eyes, chin jabs, elbows & knees. Has some knife & cane techniques somewhere in the system.

These are the systems I've pretty much been able to dredge up amongst all the Tae Kwon Do & Mc Dojo schools in my area. Iwould really appreciate any feedback or input I can get, particularly from experienced students & instructors that frequent here. BTW...I may be able to cross-train in a couple of the above, but finances won't let me do more than that.

[CaptinPickAxe]

Sifu Cotrell has a great Mantis school in Fort Worth. Go to the Mantis forum and make a post. They'll help you out if your interested.

[KingMonkey]

It appears to be a formidable system, but he seems to be a little squeamish about teaching some really hardcore "break somebody's elbow here" type of material.

If that was the nature of your first discussion with him I'm not surprised. It is to his credit that he was not prepared to start going there with a complete stranger he knew nothing about.
Also he probably realizes that teaching you a couple of quick fix super deadly techniques is crazy and that without developing more general and basic skills you'll never be able to pull off your 'elbow breaking' move anyway.

Hardcore ? Aye curumba. Lets start with some more basic advice.
Lots of people confuse martial arts with self defence. Actually martial arts are just one aspect of self defence and in most cases should be a last resort, after running, after trying to talk your way out of it and after handing over your wallet. Way before that avoidance - not being there in the first place, target hardening - not being the sickly zebra split off from the herd and awareness - realizing when somethings going down and getting out of there before it escalates are much more important forms of self defence.

A year is not that long and realistically the chances of you being able to handle a street thug who has grown up on the wrong side of the tracks and is very likely carrying a weapon is slim to zero no matter what style you take.
Sorry to rain on your parade.
Bearing in mind the time frame I would suggest the following, try them all and see which you take to. Take at least a few classes training the Arnis which will expose you to weapons training straight away. This way if you are ever confronted with a weapon at least you'll treat it with the proper respect.

Good Luck.

[iblis73]

If you are in Dallas I would HIGHLY recomend Mohler's Jiu jitsu. He has an EXCELLENT curriclum-vale tudo, wrestling (w/ a 20 yr vet) kickboxing and bjj.

Use this as your BASE. Train every day, 2 classes a day if at all possible.

After 6 months maybe some American Combatives. But you will have a decent physical arsenal and I would maybe look for some street tactics (NOT techniques) and weapons.

As far as weapons, I would go to paladinpress.com and get the videos by kelly mccann aka jim grover. His knife and stick work are based on western combatives that are VERY simple, workable and easy to practice on your own. His knife work is nasty.

Other than mccann I would only recomend tony blauer or paul vunaks (also some good weapon work with vu.)

You can develop some serious skills in one year-but you must train often, train hard and most importantly-train with focus. By this I mean do 15 min of stick/baton work everyday with intensity and focus and you will have some decent skills.